Friday, August 13, 2010

The usual stuff

You know how sometimes you start the day and it's just kind of blah a going-through-the-motions sort of day. That was yesterday. Read a book all day. Of course had the excuse that it was just plain miserable weather. Very cold and those pre-spring westerlies which seem to slice through your skin and go straight to the bone. It was a day that one wanted to spend indoors with a warm cat and a warmer fire. Today however, whizz bang, lots of energy, lots of innate joy.

Speaking of cats. Natalia is going very well. No more accidents. She doesn't have to spend her nights in the bathroom with an oil heater and an old pillow. I thought she'd join the other cats on the bed but either she prefers the couch or she is intimidated by two very large and territorial adults who staked their claim to the bed, the doona and us many winters ago. Got up in the night to go to the loo and found Natalia curled sound asleep on the couch. She prrrted and purred when I touched her then went straight back to sleep.

Xrays are next week so fingers crossed that all is well. The alternative doesn't bear thinking about.

On a rather more sinister note. Matisse has started sneezing. I kick myself now for not vaccinating them when I had the chance. We had some recently expired F5's at work. We can't sell them to clients so were welcome to use them on strays (like Natalia) or on our own cats. Brought two vials home and then returned them the next day. The reason? My own cats intimidate me. If I took them into the surgery they could be vaccinated but here in their own home...just trying to de-flea Matisse is a major operation. He is so strong and so determined and so frightened (why?) that it is almost impossible to put a drop of stuff on the back of his neck. The thought of trying to hold him still while I gave him a needle was just too demoralizing. So now the prospect of him possibly having cat flu (with Nairobi to follow soon after?) is on the horizon. He's been sneezing since yesterday. Gave him the Natalia's last dose of Vibravet a few minutes ago. Just as I expected. He exploded then ran and hid. But he got the antibiotics.

On the bird front. Good stuff. Jack went for a wander yesterday clear to the back of the horse yards. Found himself a fallen branch and started to preen. He's quit attacking R's boots when he comes out. He's very interesting to watch actually as he tap tap taps his toes, one front one back lightly against the leather of R's work boots while squinting up at us with one dark eye. He's gone from having a go to just testing the water. Finally, yesterday he lost interest and wandered off yet when I asked him to step onto the tea tree branch he did so willingly. I was very proud of him. I think he understands that he is allowed out like the galahs but like the galahs after 20 or 30 minutes he has to return. I do make it worth his while by giving him a reward when he returns.

I'm trying something different with Dimitri. It's a slow process but I think I'm finally doing something sensible. He is so frightened of hands that giving him treats is always a challenge unless the treat is tossed to him or I spend many many minutes encouraging him to take it from my oh so still had. Now I've filled a small coop cup with budgie mix (he loves budgie mix) and I'm using that as the t in c/t. When he targets the stick I put the bowl down. He takes one to 5 nibbles and then I remove it. In that process my hand extends to put the bowl down and again to remove it. He gallops off when I remove the bowl but he isn't galloping as fast or as far as he did yesterday. Over time I believe he'll get used to it and will behave as Tachimedes does; Tach just eats out of the bowl while I hold it. That is something to aim for.

On the dream front. Not much luck. The first night I told myself to 'see my hands' in a dream I dreamed of spilling something, contents from a box? pages from a book? across the floor. I picked them up with my hands, saw my hands in the dream but didn't twig about it until I woke and remembered the dream.

For some reason my dream life is very silent. I'm dreaming I'm just not remembering them. I didn't used to have a problem with remembering dreams if I cued myself to remember as I drifted off to sleep so assume it's some kind of blockage I've arranged for myself for some unknown reason. I did have an imaginary stroll through the universe however. Imagination is such a brilliant tool. I used to have flying dreams but haven't been blessed with one for years so thought I'd make my own; not flying around a few hundred meters above the ground but straight up into the black velvety silence of outer space.

Meditation after yoga was pretty good today, good for me anyway so in tune with monkey mind. Still alot of chattering but glimmers of stillness. I've been pretty regular with yoga. Did an hour today without realizing how quickly the time had gone. There is improvement in my flexibility too, especially my neck. Other joints will take longer but that's okay. I feel so much better after a session, not only physically but mentally. It does calm me. I move with the breath and that centering does something blissful for the whole of me.

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